In The Beginning (Part Four)

After waving goodbye to the rowdy hens, we made our way to the exit and pushed our trolleys through the crowds of awaiting transfer drivers all holding name signs for their passengers. We eventually found our designated courier, a young handsome and cheery Turk, who introduced himself as Erhan. He suggested we sit at the outside café whilst we waited for his “friend” who was driving the transfer bus which unfortunately had broken down. He assured us that we shouldn’t be concerned, as his friend was already en route to the depot to collect the luxury vehicle with a well-stocked mini bar and would be with us shortly. It was fair to say that now we were concerned!

Having travelled all night, fatigue was beginning to set in and to bolster our spirits we purchased some coffees and water from the kiosk attendant. When I handed over the lira, I realised that I could have financed an entire spa weekend based on the price I had been charged for the refreshments. We passed the time talking with Erhan, asking him about Turkey and in particular, Altinkum, where we would be staying.

An hour and a half later, the “luxury” transfer bus arrived. The transfer driver was a scruffy toothless elderly gentleman who his friend explained, didn’t speak any English but frankly we were so tired that we would have accepted a lift from Attila the Hun. All too soon we realised that vehicle was roughly in the same condition as it’s driver. The upholstery was stained, the ashtrays overflowing and the well-stocked rusty mini bar was padlocked. The stereo blared Turkish music and prayer beads swung from the rear-view mirror; we were left wondering whether the standard transfer vehicle would have in fact, been a donkey and cart. Leaflets advertising the local bars in Altinkum were strewn across the back seat, detailing “cockytails for half price”; oh yeah we would definitely be needing some of those bad boys sometime in the very near future.

We’d barely said our goodbyes to Erhan, when the minibus took off at breakneck speed. In addition to other basic comforts, it appeared that the luxury vehicle also lacked seatbelts. As we were tossed around in the back seats like a salad, I couldn’t help but wonder where were those cockytails when you needed one?

The surrounding countryside flashed past us, as we hurtled towards our destination at seventy miles per hour. As we were travelling so fast, it was difficult to appreciate the numerous roadside stalls selling fresh fruits and the migrant farm workers harvesting the olive trees which covered most of the passing landscape for as far as the eye could see. We also noticed that all Turkish drivers seemed to drive with reckless abandon and have a flagrant disregard for road safety and other road users. Our driver constantly smoked and answered his mobile phone whilst driving, pausing only to curse in Turkish at other drivers.

It was already beginning to get hot and the minibus was stuffy and smoky, and unfortunately, the luxury air conditioning didn’t appear to be working and neither did the electric windows.

As we rocketed around the winding roads, I wondered whether I would in fact, live to see my family again or in an ironic twist, I had unintentionally taken Serial Shagger’s advice literally and fallen off a cliff.

However, a short while later it seemed I was redeemed as the driver decided to put us out of our misery when he pulled up roadside and got out and opened our door. The fresh air and slight breeze was a welcome relief. Nodding and grinning, he gestured for us to step out. He had stopped the van at a shaded area overlooking a vast lake – Baffa Lake as I was later to discover. The views were breath-taking and it was beginning to get hot even though the day was still early.

As I was about to climb out, my friend grabbed hold of me and pulled me back into the van. “No you don’t! He’s going to steal our money and abandon us or worse still, kill us”. It seemed that I was going to be making Serial Shagger’s day after all. The driver seemed confused by our reluctance to leave the vehicle and after shrugging his shoulders grudgingly got back into the minibus to continue on with the white knuckle ride.

Thirty minutes later we drove into the bustling seaside resort of Altinkum where we were going to be staying for the next couple of weeks. I visibly relaxed as I knew then that our nightmare journey was coming to an end. However, once again fate seemed to have other ideas and as we drove around the town stopping to ask for directions, it was apparent that we were lost. So after a further forty-five minutes, tiredness had dictated that I take command of the situation and gesturing for the driver to stop, I got out and asked at a local café. An English couple were able to help along with a Turkish waiter who translated the directions to the driver. Confident that we were now headed in the right direction, I jumped back into the minibus.

Ten minutes later we arrived at our destination and the driver kindly assisted us to the apartment and even helped unlock the door with keys that had been left at the local estate agency office or Emlak offis as they said in Turkey.

The driver departed with a wave, a toothless smile and a generous tip; having mistaken good old-fashioned Turkish courtesy for something a little more sinister, we had felt duty bound to over compensate for our mean-spirited thoughts.

After struggling with the lock, we eventually gained access into what was going to be our home for the next couple of weeks. The apartment was fairly amazing, however, there was one thing troubling me. There was a trail of wet towels leading along the corridor to the bathroom. On closer inspection all of the beds were unmade and the wardrobes were opened; in fact it looked very much like the apartment had been burgled!

Leaving my friend guarding our luggage, I marched back to the emlak office and insisted that the man who had given us the keys some fifteen minutes earlier, return with me to the apartment. In the Turkish laid back manner, that we had become accustomed to since arriving, he climbed into his Fiat Doblo and gestured for me to do the same. He drove erratically the short distance to the apartment, chain-smoking the entire journey, narrowly missing another vehicle then jumped out of the car, gesturing for me to do the same. As we mounted the stairs to the apartment, he appeared fairly unconcerned about potentially confronting a burglar.

My friend was stood outside the door surrounded by all our luggage, whilst the man from an emlak office flashed her his whitest smile as he pushed past into the apartment. After a brief tour, he said “s’okay housekeeper holiday no come today”.

“Sorry?”

“No problem housekeeper coming tomorrow”.

Irritable from the lack of sleep, my friend asked where we would sleep tonight and the man from the emlak office sauntered into the apartment and selecting some linens from a chest of drawers passed them to us and indicated in the direction of the bedrooms.

As I was just too tired to argue, I took the proffered bed linen and selecting the large double room, stripped and remade the bed into which I fell almost immediately into a deep slumber. The rest could just wait until later!

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54 thoughts on “In The Beginning (Part Four)”

I don’t know whether to laugh or cry after reading this ? ? ? account of this travel experience. Yes, experience. I’ll go with that. Wow!
I guesssss one good part is certainly that you did not end up dead on the side of some road, or attacked because you interrupted a burglery in progress. Yikes!
Thanks for for a story I won’t soon forget. 😯 🙂
I think I need a cockytail.

Oh dear, i am so sorry to hear of your horrible experience. If its your first visit to Turkey then it gives a bad impression. I can assure you after 15 years of travel to the country it wont get worse Inshallah lol. I have only once known something re: the apartment happening before, maybe i have been lucky.

Yikes, I admire your patience I would have flipped out.
I was in Turkey for 3 weeks last year, me and my partner arrived at about midnight, we have booked a decent hotel in the old part of the city, 1 double bed, I had copy of my reservation.
When I got there they took us to our room, a room with to single beds, I asked them to move us to a double room, the guy said “2 beds, 2 men” to which I replied “2 men 1 bed”, he looked so puzzled my it that asked me to talk to the shift manager. They gossiped of course, the guy tried to explained me that we should sleep in separate beds but seeing that he was annoying me he gave us what I had booked, then whenever we would ask something, or room service, they would want a pick in our room, it was a funny situation, annoying but funny.

Hehehe! Similar drivers in Italy especially on the Amalfi coast. Narrow winding roads on the sides if cliffs, tunnels & two way traffic & the bus drivers are usually smoking, on a mobile and somehow driving all at the same time. Makes life exciting!!!! 🙂

Now why couldn’t interesting stuff like that have happened to me on my last trip to Turkey. All we got was an excellent (non-smoking) bus driver, awesome tour guide, top of the line hotels, and fabulous food. How boring! Can’t make a good story out of that. Guess I will have to go back and try it again 🙂

Oh gosh! Arriving exhausted and having to change your own linens! (Sounds like something that would happen in Greece too! haha) On the one hand I love the laid-back attitude, and then on the other hand, being in places like that made me really appreciate the efficiency that the US and Britain have!

Dallas, I’m caught up with “In The Beginning” now. I absolutely love your witty style of writing. This was sooo entertaining. Are you writing a book? I haven’t been here long enough to know much of your backstory, but want to know if there will be a book so I can finish this saga, or if you will be writing it on your blog. I definitely want to read more. 🙂

Bless you Maddie, I’m just a mere amateur and what I know about the world of publishing would fit on the back of a postage stamp; and then there’d still be enough room for a dictionary and then some! I did carry on with the theme on the Honeymoon stories and am hoping to do more but 6 night shifts a week has been a killer but am hoping to be back on it soon. But I’m very glad you liked it!

my daughter has a friend who was born in Turkey, so her mom is Turkish. this explains some of their behavior for sure!! what an adventure so far! hard to imagine why you’d stay but I guess I’ve got to press on and read more of the tale 🙂